South African Meat Products Found to Contain Donkey, Goat

Supermarkets in the U.K., Ireland, France, the Netherlands and Germany have pulled tainted frozen beef burgers and lasagnes from shelves and France has threatened sanctions for negligence and fraud since news of horse contamination of other meat products broke last month. Photographer: Thomas Coex/AFP via Getty Images

Feb. 26 (Bloomberg) -- More than two-thirds of meat samples
from South African supermarkets contained unlabeled traces of
donkey, goat or water buffalo, a study by academics found.

Of 139 samples of meat, 68 percent tested positive for
ingredients other than those declared on the packaging,
according to an article made public yesterday by the University
of Stellenbosch. The study follows the recall of several meat
products across Europe, including by British retailer Tesco Plc,
after it was discovered they contained horse DNA.

“Our study confirms that the mislabeling of processed
meats is commonplace in South Africa and not only violates food
labeling regulations, but also poses economic, religious,
ethical and health impacts,” Louw Hoffman, one of the report’s
authors, said in a telephone interview. He declined to name the
supermarkets where products were mislabeled.

Supermarkets in the U.K., Ireland, France, the Netherlands
and Germany pulled frozen beef burgers and lasagnes from shelves
and France has threatened sanctions for negligence and fraud
since the horse meat contamination scandal began last month.

Ikea Group, the world’s biggest furniture retailer, stopped
serving and selling Swedish meatballs across most of Europe, it
said yesterday, after the discovery of traces of horse meat in
the product. Ikea is testing its meatballs again to validate
findings in the Czech Republic and expects to have the results
by the end of this week.

Nestle Supplier

Nestle SA, the world’s largest food company, said yesterday
it dropped Spanish supplier Servocar after beef products were
found to contain horse meat.

Shoprite Holdings Ltd., Africa’s largest food retailer,
said meats sold in its butcheries are subjected to DNA testing
on a regular basis.

“We do not believe that any of our suppliers, who are
reputable companies, would transgress food standards and
labeling regulations, but should any of these suppliers be
implicated in the study, Shoprite will penalize them in the
strongest terms,” Chief Executive Officer Whitey Basson said in
e-mailed comments today.

The meat products were sampled over a three-month period
during the middle of last year, Hoffmann said from Stellenbosch.
Samples were collected in Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Eastern Cape
and Western Cape provinces, he said.

Woolworths Holdings Ltd., a food and apparel retailer based
in Cape Town, isn’t affected by incidents of “contamination,”
the company said in an e-mailed response to questions. Random
checks, such as DNA testing, are conducted routinely on meat
products, it said.

Pick n Pay Holdings Ltd., South Africa’s second-largest
grocer, has supplier warranties in place and conducts spot DNA
tests, spokesman Tamra Veley said by e-mail. The Cape Town-based
company hired Richard Brasher, the former head of Tesco’s U.K.
unit, as chief executive officer earlier this year.